ABSTRACT
Oceans are vast and it can be difficult to know what types of activities take place there. Many institutions have been created over the past century addressing different aspects of ocean governance. For shipping, the primary organization is the International Maritime Organization, which negotiates and oversees agreements relating to safety on, and environmental harms from, ships. For large-scale governance of ocean resources, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and two more recently negotiated agreements on fisheries and on protecting biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, is the major governing framework. Finally, the fish species of the high seas are governed by many different Regional Fishery Management Organizations that have differing memberships and mandates but work to restrict fishing for various species in the regions they oversee. Ocean commons are particularly difficult to manage, and these institutions have faced difficulties but many have adapted and made some progress in protecting the resources they oversee.
